Portable truck heater



Oct. 11, 1949.- E. M. ANDERSON PORTABLE TRUCK HEATER 3 Sheefcs-Sheqt 1Filed Nov. 17, 1945 Oct. 11, 1949. E. M. ANDERSON 2,484,665

PORTABLE TRUCK HEATER Filed Nov. 17, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 swoon/MGum/mag:

'3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 17, 1945 INVEN TOR w a W n a O I.) l Jk 3 mM 27rd I'Zih elf na'rs an l'rneys Patented Oct. 11, i949 UNITED STATES;PATENT OFFICE POREABEE' TRUCK HEATEFL Eric Martin Anderson, Portland,Maine, ,aSSiE r to UtilitiesDistrihutors, Inc., Portland, Maine, acorporation of'Maine I ApplicationNovemher 17, 1945,.Seria-1No, 629,265.

1.1 Claim. 1?

The. present invention relates to improvements. in. portable, truckheaters and hasfor anobject to providean improved heater,, for useintrucks,

trailers, freight cars.- andtransportation vehicles generally in which,the; nature-of the merchandise that may be transported such as to spoilor deteriorate on encountering low or freezin temperatures.

Another objectof the; invention isto; provide an improved. heaterfortrucksand the like, which.

will operate on service and reserve fuel;sup plies,

provide a truck, heater: ofi either aportable or stationary nature in:which; the; heateritselt and; its fuel carrier are constructedlas;independent; units with, the heater; located? in; the caror;comepartment, to be. protectediandheatedi and Withthe. fuel carrierremoved-v to: an externalposition, for instance underneath the: truck:or. trailer order to minimize, if not. completely avoid; the fire hazardincident to that type of; construction in which theyfuel carrierwithrits; service and re.- serve containers are .maintainedin. the carercom, artment to be heated;

A- stilli further. object of-the. invention is, toprovide a. tallstationary beaten; equipped with. thermostat. and other controls allarranged; in.-- side the truck and: piped; to the fuel carrier-bee neaththe truck, withthe heater-soiconstructedi and. arranged. that,merchandise may be, stacked: close to the same without. fire risk and;inwhich the carrier. is. accessible from the exterior by authorizedpersons tognemoveexhausted containiers and to substitute replenished:gas; bottles or other containers.

With the foregoing and other objectsinview, the invention will be morefullydescr-ibed herein-s after, and. will be more particularly pointedout. in the claim appended. hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like. symbols refer; to like or correpsonding.parts throughout the. several views,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side. view. of a truck trailer, with partsbroken-away andparts shown. in section, with the new heater and. fuelcarrier mounted thereon, all-asconstr-ucted in accordance with thepresent invention,

Figure 2 isa perspective view, taken, on an en larged scale and showing.the improved'heaten with the frontscreen-wall. removed and. with. the. v7

Side door open.

REl

Figure. 3 is a. horizontal section taken through the heater andcage.

Figure 4 is. a perspective view of a modified formof carrier device,

Figure .5-isa fragmentary vertical section taken throughthe carrierdevice, onan enlarged scale and. showing a formof holdrdown device forthe, cylinders, and I Figurefiis a, fragmentary. side elevation of aportion of the: top part of a cylinder with the supply pipe connectionthereto and showing a form of lock nut.

Referring more particularly to. the drawings, l'fl andv Hi designatecylinders, bottles or other containers for the fuel. which are mounted.in verticalpositioniina carrier which also supports the automaticequipmentbywhich one container services the burner while the othercontainer constitutes a reserve which is automatically cut into the fuelsupply line-to-theburner whenever the first container becomes exhausted.Such automatic. equipment. is. well. known and! is indicated generallyat l2. Thefuel suppl line from such. automatic. equipment tothe burneris. represented at I3.

Thecarrier Inlay. be of the; type and. general construction. asishownand described in the Patent No. 2,407, 124, granted September 3, 1946-,entitledTruchand; freight car heaters, or it may beci other suitableform-in-whichadequate provision is made for sustaining the containers atand H and the-automatic equipment l2; in a suitable position externallyof, and preferably suspendedirom thebottom; l5 of theztruck trailer l6-orv othervehicle;

In the instance: shown, hangers I 1 depending from the,- truck bottom.L5 receive pins or bolts 18,: whichproiect from the SidESaOf; thecarrierI l.

, Theifuelalin'e l.3 may lieialong the exterior of. the bottom: [5:until it arrives at the point where theheater to be;interiorly installedwithin: the space of the: trailer or car; L6; whereupon. suchfueLpipeI3; is brought upthrough: the bottom l 5. and. connected with the properelements. of: the heater.

The gas'supply pipe; l3 connectswith the easing, of asafety-cut-off,gas, valve [9 which regulates. the supply to, the; burner 20. The burnerislig-hted bya pilot, light illv connected by a pipe 22. with the casingl9. and having in this pipe 22 apilot cut-01f valve 23. The usual thermacouple 24, 25. is. shown. in associationwith the pilot 2.! and,thecasing I9;v and the usual ther-- mostat 2Hv is connected. by the pipe21. to the burner. supply. Theair adjustment for; the. burner is.indicated at. 28.

The burner unit ismounted. within a flue. or heat. st'ackcomposed. of.sheet metal imperforate backand front. walls29, and 30 andside walls-3|.These walls are of suitable horizontal dimensions trailer or car, orother compartment.

in cross section and being open at its bottom and its top and has an airbafile.

The bottom must be left open for the ingressv of air to the burner tosupport combustion; while the upper end is baffled to permit thediffusion of heat into the surrounding atmosphere of the For the purposeof supporting the flue or stack with its bottom completely open, thesame may be mounted as to its rear wall 29 and front wall 36 upon thehorizontal inturned webs of angle irons 32 and 33 which are supported attheir end portions upon the horizontal webs of reversely turned lateralangle irons'34' and 35. 'It is obvious that the supports 3235 might beother than of angle iron cross section. These angle irons or other beamsmay be welded or otherwise secured together at their contact portionsand thesup-s ports 34, 35 may be sustained inany suitable manner as forinstance by welding to the upright members 36 and 31 of the sides 38 ofa cage or protector which is completed by the back wal1'39 and the frontwall 40. It will be noted that'the angle iron 341, 35 are at anelevation above the lower ends of the uprights 36, 37.

The protector cage walls may be formed of metal rectangular framesacross which -are stretched suitable wire. The cage is also providedwith a wire top 41 similarly formed. The frame members may be formedwith flanges as for'instance shown at 42 and 43 'to receive the flangedparts of the companion members. The meeting flanges may be perforatedan'd'registered, asin'di-- cated at 44 to receive rivets, bolts or otherfasten ings whereby the front panel or the front portions walls of theprotective cage stand away at all points from the normally very hotwalls of the flue up through which the products of combustion" arecirculating and for this purpose the cage is made of appropriate widthand general size and-it stand to a greater height than the flueso-thatthe top 4| lies close to the top of the trailerand spaced wellabove the open top of the flue. Preferably the front wall 30 of the flueis formed with an extension which is bent back to a diagonalpositionintercepting partially the rising products of combustion issuing fromthe flue so asto 'constitute a deflector 46. 1 To maintain the integrityof the flue and cage and to preserve the relative position of these twocomplementary members, a connecting device is mounted between the same.This connect-'- ing device is formed by bands 47, 48 and 49' (Figures 2and 3) which are shaped to fit around the flue in tight contacttherewith so that these bands assume the rectangular shape of the flue;Fastenings 50 may connect theangled' ends "of: the bands together.angled ends affixed to the vertical standards 3T of the cage. Athreshold member 52 (Figure 2) for the door 45 may be brazed, soldered,welded or otherwise aflixed to the cage frame and if de- The band 41 mayhave its 4 sired also to the ends of the bands 41 and 48. The frontscreen panel is shown in Figure 3 as having a screen marginal frame 16fitted to the flanges and affixed; thereto in any desired manner. Asshown in Figure 2, the band 41 may subserve the additional function ofsecuring together -adioining sections of the flue where such flue ismade in vertically superimposed units. The band 41' is sufficient tospan the space between the two sections and may be welded to bothsections to form a bridge therebetween.

In the use of the ,device the external carrier constitutes an amplereservoir of fuel supply and reserve for the maintenance of burneroperation over long periods" of time including long distance hauling.The stations which service the trucks may also be equipped to servicethe heaters. The bottles or containers I0, ll may be kept on hand bysuch service stations to be loaded into the carriers when the truckarrives for refueling and other items of servicing.

The thermostat 26 may be set for any desirable low indoor temperatureand when such temperature is reached the burner 20 will be automaticallyignited from the pilot 2 l. Thus perishables in the trailer or othercompartment will be protected against destruction-due to unforeseensevere drops in temperature in the area over which the truck isproceeding. The burner will continue in operation until the temperaturewithin the compartment rises above that for which the thermostat 26 hasbeen set." v r When the vehicle is in motion,and this is particularlytrue in the case of trucks andtrailers, the vibration incident to suchmotion has been found to be productive of great firehazard. This resultsfrom the vibrationfcausing loosening of a fitting. For instance theconnections into a bottle, where a small leak-mightstart a fire whichwill meet the fuse plug at times, thus resulting in a serious fire andsometimes explosion. This hazard is eliminated by the removal of thebottles to the exterior of thecar. r

The protector is a heavy cage made of screen so constructed andarrangedthat-itis substantrailer construction; The interests of safety areaccordingly promoted to a higher degree as well as rendering the gasbottles more accessible in that an attendant is not required to enterthe trailer, which is often lockedin order to replenish exhausted fuelcontainers: v

The ascending products of combustion in the flue encounter thediagonaldefiector 46' and are diverted through the back wall 39 ortoward the rear end portion of the top 41-. This deflector hasa tendencyto spread the heat horizontally although such heat tends to rise throughand above the flue into the upperportionpf the car. As the air cools thesame will descend by the natural action of convection currents. and coldair will enter through the bottom of the flue. Thus a desiredcirculation of air "will be maintained throughout the trailer in orderto reach all portions and all products therein.

In Figure 4 a slightly modified form of carrier is shown in which abottom 11" is supported by the sides I8 with angle irons 19 aflixed'tothe upper Consequently'the cage provides.

portions of the sides for receiving fastenings 80 passing through thefloor I5 of the vehicle and supporting the carrier thereto. The carrieralso has a roof 8| or a top wall.

As shown more particularly in Figures 4 and 5 the upper hooks 82 of turnbuckles 83 are rigidly engaged with angle irons 84 while the lower hooks85 have pieces of angle iron 86 welded thereto to engage the handles 81of the cylinders I0. By rotating the turn buckle 83 in the properdirection the ends 82 and 85 may be moved outwardly therefrom to causethe turn buckles to press down upon the cylinders 10, H and hold themtightly against their seats in the bottom 11.

Figure 6 shows a lock nut 88 to bind against the wing nut 89 on thepigtail 90 which resists vibration loosening the wing nut.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in thedetails of construction and design of the above specifically describedembodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof,such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of thefollowing claim.

What is claimed is:

An improved heating apparatus for trucks and like vehicles having aclosed cargo space, having a gas burning heating unit installedinternally within said cargo space, a fuel supply connection, and fuelstorage apparatus comprising a carrier suspended from the bottom of thevehicle, means for supporting a pair of bottles vertically and in suchposition that the bottles are accessible from the exterior of thevehicle and from its cargo space for the detachment of the bottles fromsaid automatic supply equipment and the substitution of the newlyreplenished bottles, automatic fuel supply equipment in said carrier fordetachable connection to the top portion of said bottles and forautomatically making a change-over from one bottle to the other as thesupply of fuel is exhausted from one such bottle and a fuel supply linerunning from such equipment into the interior cargo space of the truck.

ERIC MARTIN ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

